“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”
Romans 12:1-2 (NLT)
After 33 years of pastoral ministry, I feel a little foolish to start encouraging verbal affirmations. Why didn’t I do this years ago? I am learning the power of what I have known for a long time. That may seem like a contradiction but it isn’t. I have known for many years that we humans focus our lives and actions around what we affirm in our thoughts and self-talk. In biblical terms, we read: “For as a person reasons within him/herself, so he/she is” (Pro. 23:7 SyS). The problem is, of course, that I like others have failed to practice what I have known to be personally beneficial.
Now, what I am going to suggest is not new but it works. It doesn’t work instantly, but over the long-term of life, positive affirmation of Scripture will make a difference in our personal walk with Christ. Affirming the Scripture involves what Jesus told his disciples in John 6:53-58, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (KJV). We must not simply hear the Word of God. We must receive it and chew it and drink it. The Word of God must become a part of us. When we read it, we must then meditate on it and grasp the principle it is teaching. Then, we take that scriptural principle and began affirming it to ourselves daily. Only then can we expect it to form us into who God wants us to be.
Take Romans 12:1-2. Affirm it. “I give my body to be the kind of sacrifice that is acceptable to God. I refuse to be conformed to this world. I am renewing my mind and allowing God to transform me. His will is good for me. His will is acceptable to me. His will is perfect for me. So, I approve his will for me.”
It is challenging, I know. It requires the death of self-will. But it will make difference in eternity.
Dear Father, thank you for your Word. Empower us to eat it and drink it everyday. Help us to allow it to do its transforming work. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be encouraged today in the power of God’s Word,